Tag Archive: talking to strangers about fertility and loss

Ok, not total strangers. Co-workers. But ones that I’m not all that intimate of the knowing. A post by Eggs that I just got to reading made me think of this conversation I got into a few days ago. Uncomfortable or funny? Still not too sure.

So, everyone gets known for something, right? My boss has become know for the fact that her underwear (thongs) are constantly sticking out of her pants as they ride down and her shirt rides up. I’ve become known for my tattoos sticking out of or in the case of one shirt, showing through my uniform. So as my boss and I were joking about this the other day, she leaves and “my girls” (my health care aids) say “I want to see your tattoos, move your shirt”. Sure, I’m in the office, I don’t have to get nekid to show them the most of it. They’ve all seen “judge not…” and glimpsed the edges of the feet. So I show the two there the rest of the feet, a quick lift of the back of my shirt presented “nothing else matters” across my spine and the dragon wrapped around my butterfly. And no, I didn’t pull my pants down to show them the rest of the dragon on my butt cheek. I just told them how far it went.

So they ask about the feet and I tell them the history. I’m not shy about it. Unlike most of us, I’ve actually had this conversation on a very regular basis and usually with relative strangers. One of my girls says that she’s had losses in the past too and then we get to the fertility issues. So she starts telling me how to get pregnant.

LOL. REALLY!?

Have you tried this, have you tried that, “have you tried doggy style and stay that way for half an hour after?”

I just stuck with a generic “I’ve tried it all”. I wasn’t going to get into a discussion of sexual positions and old wives tales to help conception at work. I had a feeling that the next one out her mouth would have been “have you tried getting hosed and banging in the back of a car?” so I made my exit quickly. “I’ve got to go get shift report from 2nd floor” and I bolted.

Does that make me evil? It’s hard to give a “sorry for your loss now shut your damn mouth you twit, you think I haven’t tried sex to conceive in the last 7 years?”

I was laughing and irritated all the way up the stairs. I still don’t know which one wins, but I’m leaning towards humour.